Valve sees big spike in traffic during Steam Summer Sale

Valve, the Bellevue-based company behind the Steam gaming platform, saw a big jump in usage during July — demonstrating the extent of the company’s reach and the enduring appeal of deep discounts on video games.

Numbers released by comScore Networks today show that unique visitors to Valve’s online properties rose to 7.3 million in the U.S. in July, up 24 percent from the total of 5.9 million in June. The increase coincided with the annual Steam Summer Sale, in which the company offers big price reductions on some of its most popular games.

Portal 2 for $5 anyone? Sorry, you’ll have to wait until next summer.

The influx of interest made Valve the fourth-fastest growing site among the properties comScore ranks. No doubt Valve’s internal numbers are even more interesting. The company is known for conducting experiments to better understand consumer motivations and the economics of games, as detailed by co-founder Gabe Newell during an event in Seattle last year.

Here’s the comScore ranking of the fastest-growing sites in the U.S. for the month, led by Instagram.